Possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives are both used to show possession or ownership, but they have different grammatical functions in a sentence.
1. Possessive Pronouns:
Possessive pronouns are used to replace nouns to indicate ownership or possession. They stand alone and do not require a noun to follow them. Possessive pronouns act as the subject or object of a sentence and indicate who owns or possesses something.
Common possessive pronouns:
- Mine (1st person singular): That book is mine.
- Yours (2nd person singular): Is this pen yours?
- His (3rd person singular, masculine): The car is his.
- Hers (3rd person singular, feminine): The house is hers.
- Its (3rd person singular, neutral): The dog wagged its tail.
- Ours (1st person plural): The garden is ours.
- Yours (2nd person plural): Are these keys yours?
- Theirs (3rd person plural): The bikes are theirs.
2. Possessive Adjectives:
Possessive adjectives are used to modify nouns to indicate ownership or possession. They are placed before the noun they modify and agree with the noun in gender and number.
Common possessive adjectives:
- My (1st person singular): My car is parked outside.
- Your (2nd person singular): Is this your house?
- His (3rd person singular, masculine): His book is on the table.
- Her (3rd person singular, feminine): Her phone is ringing.
- Its (3rd person singular, neutral): The cat is licking its paws.
- Our (1st person plural): Our friends are coming over.
- Your (2nd person plural): Are these your shoes?
- Their (3rd person plural): Their house is big.
To summarize, possessive pronouns replace nouns and show ownership independently, while possessive adjectives modify nouns to indicate ownership and agree with the nouns they modify in gender and number.
